It’s 4 a.m. at Rancho San Rafael Park. The sky is still dark as people trickle onto the field, finding a cozy spot that allows for a breathtaking view of the hot air balloons.
Classical music plays as the crowd waits for the Glow Show to begin.
Nearby, pilot Koh Murai and his crew are getting a balloon named Firenzé ready to fly.
First, they fill up the balloon with cold air as it lies on its side. Once it’s inflated, the burners ignite.
The flames heat the air inside, slowly making the Firenzé stand tall and proud alongside the other balloons.
The Firenze is hard to miss — purple, yellow, blue and teal, with a chevron pattern around the top.
Murai is based in Yamhill, Oregon. He’s been ballooning since 1978 and got his start almost by accident, when a neighbor knocked on his door early one morning.
“About 3:30 in the morning, he came over and was banging on my door … He said, ‘Well, one of my crew people can't make it today. They have to go to work,’” Murai said.
Murai agreed to help and nearly five decades later, he’s still flying. Now, he is a retired chemical engineer, and back at the Great Reno Balloon Race for the 35th time.
He is joined by family and friends. Even his grandchildren are part of his crew.
“There's six generations of balloonists that have come and gone through my time,” Murai said. “It's a family thing.”
After the Glow Show, I climb into Firenzé’s basket with Murai. Soon, we’re lifting off with dozens of other balloons.
From above, Murai waves and chats with people watching from the park below.
At one point, Murai brings the balloon down over a pond, low enough for the basket to touch the water. Ducks scurry away below us.
By the time we rise again, water is dripping from the basket. Murai says it’s not the first time.
“I flew out of here once, there were a whole lot of people here trying to take pictures, and a drop lands dead center in the middle of one guys’ glasses and he says, ‘You got water on me,’” Murai said.
At the end of the flight, Murai lands near McCarran Boulevard, where his crew quickly arrives to pack up the balloon and head back.
And if, as Murai puts it, “Mother Nature” grants nice weather, he’ll be flying for the rest of the weekend.
